Sketch

Ahjummae Articles 1

Playing around with colors so the hair won't actually be this dark.

Chuu Chronicles #01

Hi, it's Chuu! Sorry that I haven't updated at all really. I went through sort of an art block - that is kind of a frequent occurrence for me, lol. But yeah, I have some stuff piled up and I thought I'd do a timeline of Chris' development, since I draw him way more than any other character, haha. He's my fav baby.

Okay, let's start off with the very first drawing I drew of him. It was quick, done on impulse, and loads of fun. At this point, though, his name was Santa rather than Chris. And well, it's not hard to guess what came through my head regarding his appearance.

This is what I call a bishounen Santa.

This is my "second" try - done more seriously. I have a ton of other preliminary sketches, but this is a more finalized version. Kind of looks like a skater dude, eh? With a Santa complex or something? I couldn't get my mind off of the actual Santa and felt like I needed to make him as Santa as possible...

Then we named him Chris! Thank god.

Lol at the Santa colors still.
Made him lose the beanie and man, made a hell of a difference.

Rough sketch of a sprite I will never finish because I just need to redo it. I have a lot of trouble with character consistency...

And I guess from then on I continued to draw him on and off. It seemed like every single drawing was inconsistent and it was really frustrating. But I wanted to be able to reach a point where I could draw him and make it look like him several times in a row before I even thought about making any sprites. I want them to be as perfect as possible after all.

So I began posting art on Instagram. From there, I decided to draw Chris every day for a week to see how consistent I could draw him. Lol, pretty much failed that, but I think I reached some sort of breakthrough? Maybe?

Tried something new. Worked mostly on the colors in this one. I think this is when I finally started tapping into Chris' actual character and was able to portray some of it through the drawing. His eyes seem to be kinder.

Now a million years later, having been awoken from my artistic slumber from Pilot kicking me in the arse, I present another Chris - the latest. And it's clear that my style has changed but I don't really understand how because I haven't really been drawing. o_o

This is his puppy dog face with the blushies.

Hopefully, Chris is developing in a good way. I'll do my best!

Chuu's Initial Character Designs

Aki Kisetsu - the rename-able female protagonist [autumnal equinox]. A lively character with a habit of spouting out nonsense rants and taking her best friend on romantic motorcycle rides. 

• "This world was made so that not everyone can have what they want."
• "But then again, in this type of situation, people don’t rejoice about what didn’t happen; they mourn about the things that did happen."
• "What do I do with my life?"

Dove Orcant - Aki's strong-willed but gentle, human rights activist friend. National Peacekeeper's Day. Born in Canada and enjoys the romantic motorcycle rides.

• "I know this is weird coming from me, but sometimes I think the world would be strange if there was no violence."
• "Aki, you know I love you, right?" 
• "Why is Denis such an idiot?"

Jeffrey Firework IV - a party and fun-loving janitor and bowler. Fourth of July. He has a high tolerance for alcohol and would win about 60% of bar fights if he got involved in them. FREEDOM IN AMERICA!

• "I'll let you in on a secret. I shower. Naked."
• "I do have a life, but I tell people I have no life because I don’t want to share it. I mean, I only have one."
• "People who are too nice scare me."

Jack O'Lantern - a prankster with a major sweet tooth. Halloween. He is in a rock band, and his best friend is Verity, who is April Fools' Day. He works as an electrician. 

• "I don’t want to hear decorations. I want to hear a soul manifested into sound - raw, exposed, unpretentious."
• "Save me if you ever see me drowning in the street or something."

Christopher Lights - a homeless man who gives away almost anything he gains. Christmas Day. He wanders around town with a crippled dog named Mary and a wagon. 

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Tuck Gravy - a shut-in, introverted video gamer. Thanksgiving. It's hard to get him out of his house. He loves food and football games with an undying passion. 

• "Why do you care so much anyway?"

Brief Male Descriptions

Hey, how are you all doing?

We're making way with the story, and getting everyone back together again, even though we are all overwhelmingly busy. I, Pilot, am on spring break, so hopefully some scenes will be finished for our darling female protagonist. We came up with some new stuff, fleshed out the universe, stated our weekly goals, all that cool stuff.

I added a music player with some soundtracks that I completed for the visual novel so that you would be able to get a feel for the mood of Ephemera.

I'll also leave you with some brief descriptions of the male dateable characters.

Jeffrey Firework IV - Everyone calls him Jeff. He's the nonchalant, chill, popular guy who knows everyone.

Christopher Lights - Also known as Chris. His name sounds like a celebrity's, but he's the opposite - a hobo.

Jack O'Lantern - He's on his way to fame with his rock band and guitar skills. Music is his life.

Tuck Gravy - We can't figure out a way to get this guy out of his house and away from his video games.

Mystia Memoirs: Memo #02 - "Intoxication"

I did promise to post a short story about Ephemera on here before leaving for Hawaii, so here's a Lucina-centric story about both her alcohol addiction and her infatuation with Jeffrey Firework IV.

!! SPOILERS - LUCINA !!

Mystia Memoirs: Memo #01 - first blog post

Hi, I'm Mystia! Not really, my name is Danielle, but you should call me Mystia, because that's my online username. Mystia Katsuragi. I'm one of the story writers. I write as Haru, the male protagonist, pursuing the girls. But I'm a lazy person, so I haven't written much yet, and I don't think what I've written counts as quality writing, so I might rewrite all of it at some point;;

I'm blog retarded, so I probably won't post much on here, but I'll try to write a progress update around the beginning of each month, and I guess I'll post the side stories I'm occasionally writing on here as well. These will usually not include Haru, told from the perspective of one of the other characters--most often, the dateable girls--or from an omniscient, third-person point of view. Sometimes they'll include shippings, because personally I support several pairs being together that aren't compliant with certain routes. They might be silly or serious and cover subjects that most readers would probably consider mature, such as alcoholism and depression. Definitely there will be spoilers, probably in every single side story, so this is the only spoiler warning I will issue if you want to read them.

This is the end of my post. I'll post a side story sometime before Mims and I leave for Hawaii in two weeks.

- Mystia

Musical Update

Eyyyyy. How y'all doing?

Pilot reporting to duty, ladies and gentlemen, with the plan for a few scenes and some completed music tracks.

As for writing, I'm still working on the first part, but I got part of the scene layout map finished. I know what progression they are in. A old scene was finished and completed, and I will leave it at that, unless we need to add another necessary detail. Jeff's route is thought-out now, and I think he is developed enough for me to start writing his route and smoothly control his character. And even when I cannot control it, I am sure he will still act like himself.

Jeffrey Firework IV is based off Independence Day. Like his day, he has a sort of explosive energy at times. He drinks when he's happy, and goes crazy, telling people his very deep, deep, deep, dark secrets, like... "I shower naked." Very dark secret. Jeff is probably tied with Chris on the stupidity level. Speaking about secrets, he doesn't seem like he has many. He's too light-hearted and whimsical for that shit, yo.

But you never know. Writers lie for a living, so you can't really know if I'm telling you legit stuff.

And for the music, I've got three tracks finished, and some others are on the way. The images and ideas I have for the upcoming soundtracks are pretty clear. I've already finished Heartbeast (we decided my typo for Heartbeat made a great name), and Song of the Sun (but I'm going to re-do it; that's a song from way back when I was a wee baby messing with digital music production in seventh grade). Please Take Care was finished just yesterday, thanks to the constructive criticism Chuu and her younger brother kindly gave.

Lately, I've been looking through visual novel and anime soundtracks that seemed to be loved by the general public so that I can get a feeling for the tracks can be so that it can set the mood while not being distracting or overly boring. I've also been looking through the variety of moods, and hoping that I can get a feel for each so that Ephemera can also have a diverse music collection. I've pretty much spent this whole week mulling over the mistakes in Please Take Care and the mood and different soundtracks and haven't left the house. (What is homework? What is school life? What weekend assignment?) I've built up a craving to play Remember11 again. And watch Gintama. (sigh) So many things I want to do; so little time.

In about a week, my life will build up again. I will try to work on Ephemera as much as possible though.

Update on Ahjummae, since he seems too busy lately: He's been working hard at school. He says he can't catch onto things that are taught quickly, so he always has to study extra. He is not an auditory learner, and he says those people have it easier. He is also training to become a lifeguard and could possibly start that job after/during spring break (I don't remember). It doesn't seem like he'll be open until summer, but at least that gives us time to get the script rolling and solidly determine what sprites to create.

This is what Please Take Care looks like:

And this is my seventh grade mess of Song of the Sun:

I'll work on Extinguish when I've got a catchy riff down.

I can't wait for Jack's route and make some rock songs for him. Chris is kind of a like a ballad route. Jeff is kind of disco and funky stuff. Tuck is probably more playful, happy, sparkly, and videogame-like. But with Jack, I can probably give him some pop rock stuff, and then some death metal. I am really excited for this.

First Post | Blog Launch

Number one post!

Welcome to the blog where we'll post about our progress with the Ephemera visual novel! Text, music, arts, programming, and all that cool stuff. Whatever it is, we'll try to keep you updated!

The concept of Ephemera came up on August 9, 2012, which is also National Peacekeepers' Day, a day of honoring Canadian peacekeeping veterans. That's why one of our treasured characters, Dove Orcant, was based off of this day.

Originally, Ahjummae wanted to start a visual novel - didn't know why or what it would be about and didn't even think it would get anywhere - but the idea was mentioned to us and we got a team of talented people. And now we're here, making considerable progress. C:

That is all I wanted to say! Thanks for visiting! I hope you are feeling fantastic!

-Pilot

Hey everyone! 

Just wanted to say hi and welcome. :) I'm really excited for Ephemera. I hope you guys are too. It's quite a big challenge to take on considering most of us have no experience making visual novels, but you know what? I think we can do it. 

Our cute little team of five is full of awesome.

Wish us luck! :D

-Chuu